The episode depicts the Queen's household staff desperately attempting to hide a copy of The Sunday Times from her as it contains a poll that suggests the then-Prince Charles (Dominic West) was more popular among the British public than her.
The front page of the newspaper, dated August 11, 1991, reads: "Queen Should Abdicate in Favour of Prince of Wales," followed by a subheading: "Half of British Public Agrees."
An advisor working for Prince Charles is also shown explaining that those surveyed described the reigning monarch as "irrelevant," "old," "expensive," and "out of touch." In contrast, they thought of Charles as "young," "energetic," "modern," and "empathetic."
However, in reality, the findings of the poll, which was conducted by MORI (Market and Opinion Research International) rather than the newspaper itself, were actually largely pro-monarchy.
The report — which was dug out of the archives and republished earlier this year — begins: "Despite assaults by the tabloid press and a decade of intimate scrutiny, the royal family enters the 1990s as a remarkably popular part of British life."
It found that the Queen Mother was Britain's favorite royal at the time, followed by the Queen and then the Prince of Wales. Nine out of 10 of those surveyed viewed all three as "mainly favorably" or "very favorably."